14 août 2013

Palestinian prisoners are not bargaining chips: Welcome to the released prisoners, struggle until all are free

Samidoun
congratulates the Palestinian people and the prisoners’ families on the
release of every prisoner who walks out of the doors of the occupation
prisons, and today, the release of 26 veteran prisoners. We did not
previously address the announcement that prisoners would be released
because Israel has shown, time and again, that it regularly reneges on
agreements with Palestinians and particularly with prisoners, and
manipulates the issue of the prisoners – the over 5000 hostages behind
bars – in an attempt to barter the lives and freedom of the prisoners
for Palestinian concessions on land and rights.
The 104 prisoners whose release has been announced, allegedly in
stages of 26 prisoners at a time, conditioned upon what Israel has
labeled “progress” in the negotiations, are pre-Oslo prisoners, arrested
prior to the implementation of the Oslo Declaration of Principles and
the establishment of the PA on May 4, 1994. These prisoners have been
categorized as “abandoned” by the newly established Palestinian
Authority from the time of Oslo’s signing in 1993. These prisoners’
release have been promised on multiple occasions, including in the Sharm el-Sheikh negotiations memorandum of
1999, which noted that “The Government of Israel shall release
Palestinian and other prisoners who committed their offences prior to
September 13, 1993, and were arrested prior to May 4, 1994.”
The years since Oslo in 1993 have been years of unfulfilled promises,
for the prisoners as for Palestinians as a whole. Repeatedly, the
release of Palestinian hostages has been held out as a
“confidence-building” or “goodwill” measure. However, these same time
periods have been characterized by mass arrests, nighttime raids, the
wide use of administrative detention without charge or trial, and
ongoing mass imprisonment. As Addameer notes,
“Indeed, over 23,000 Palestinians have been released since 1993 as
“goodwill measures” during various negotiations and peace talks.
However, in that same period, at least 86,000 Palestinians have been
arrested, including children, women, disabled persons and university
students.”
Many of those arrested are former prisoners who were released; the
re-arrest of freed prisoners has become a given in any discussion of
such releases. The Israeli cabinet (as noted by Addameer)
included in its agreement to this release that “The State of Israel
reserves the right to take any means necessary against any of the
released prisoners if they commit any terrorist and hostile activities
as well as returning them to serve the remainder of their sentence, as
will be decided by the relevant authorities.” Over 12 prisoners from the
prisoner exchange in October 2011 currently are threatened with the
re-imposition of their sentences. This phrase means that the prisoners
are not released but instead paroled, and can be rearrested at any time
at the whim of the occupation. It must be noted that Israeli definitions
of hostile activities include participation in demonstrations and
marches, “incitement” in speeches and writings, and membership or
affiliation with Palestinian political parties.
Israel’s conditioning of the release of the 104 prisoners on the
grounds of progress in the negotiations is particularly dangerous. It is
clear that the Israeli state considers “progress” to be the building of
settlements, expropriation of Palestinian land, and concessions of
Palestinian inalienable rights, including the right of return.
Palestinian prisoners cannot and will not be used as a bargaining chip
on the table of negotiations. They have fought with dignity inside the
occupation’s prisons for decades, during which time the so-called “peace
process” has accrued no benefits to Palestinian prisoners and indeed,
has seen the conditions of confinement deteriorating and under continual
pressure to undermine the achievements of the prisoners’ movements over
the years.
The heroic Palestinian prisoners will not be used as hostages to
silence the Palestinian opposition to negotiations or to broker the
concession of inalienable Palestinian rights. Those who marched against
the negotiations in Ramallah – and were assaulted and attacked by PA police
for challenging those negotiations – include former prisoners and the
family members of prisoners and the organizers of countless marches and
rallies in support of the hunger strikers and the prisoners’ movement.
Since Oslo, the so-called “peace process” has brought neither peace
nor justice to Palestinian prisoners or the Palestinian people as a
whole. On the contrary, the struggle of Palestinian prisoners, through
hunger strikes, political leadership, and continued dignity, strength
and political commitment – has always indicated an alternative path of
steadfastness in the face of a relentless occupying power.
Welcome to the released prisoners, heroes of the battle for freedom.
We will not rest until every one of your sisters and brothers is free,
including the brave hunger strikers, the suffering ill prisoners, and
the Palestinian children behind bars.

The names of those released today follow (translations via Addameer)

Fayez Mutaweh Hammad, arrested November 29, 1985, from Gaza, serving a life sentence